That's what Robin himself said. He took to photo to capture a memory of his trip through the WCPP . . . .
A histogram shows that the photo is clearly skewed to the left side (dark), even to the point of running off the edge. This could mean underexposure
Pete, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, but I think you're missing mine.
This topic goes back to one many months ago when we were discussing an appropriate lead photo for this site shortly after Robin took over as administrator the first time. Some people wanted to keep the photo of Willis's canoe. I believe Robin invited people to submit photos. Some did. I was of the opinion that, since Robin was the new administrator and that he is an aficionado of wood-canvas canoes and tripping with Duluth Packs, that the photo should be of one of his Chestnuts loaded with tripping gear but without any distracting humans in the picture.
I recently noticed and was happy to see that Robin has switched to exactly the kind of subject I recommended.
The next question is one I am addressing in this thread: Is the picture a technically good one so as to visually appeal to
third parties who comes to look at the site. My opinion is that we could have a technically superior photo of the same subject matter.
In analyzing this, it is totally irrelevant to a third party what
Robin thinks this picture is or what memories it evokes for
him. It only matters what a
third party thinks when looking at the photo. I suggest that third parties will think they are looking at a significantly underexposed photo of a WC canoe in front of a featureless, shadowed shore in an unknown place.
I agree that the subject of a photo can be "a place" to a third party. The most clear example would be a famous place. A picture of the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls doesn't necessarily have to have a precisely composed subject within the panorama because everyone will recognize the subject for what it is. "Ahah, it's the Grand Canyon . . . the New York City skyline . . . the surface of the moon."
That, however, is not what will go through a third party's mind when looking at this site photo. The far shore, which you are suggesting is part of the subject "place", is to a third party nothing more than a relatively featureless, ordinary, prosaic, routine, unfamiliar and meaningless shoreline. Absolutely no one but Robin would have any idea where it is. No one will say: "Ahah, that's great picture of WCPP."
The purpose of a photo on a public website home page is to appeal to a third party's sense of aesthetics -- unlike a photo in the photographer's personal photo album, which may be there to appeal to his or her historical memories.
I'd say the histogram proves the photo is underexposed. Regardless, a qualitative definition of proper exposure is that you can see detail in the darkest areas and in the lightest areas. An overexposed photo will have detail blown out by too much light. An underexposed photo will have detail obscured by too much shadow. In this picture, even in the brightest area of the entire place, the far shoreline, much detail is hidden in the dark patches between the trees. Even simple post-processing can bring out some of these details. However, a picture that is correctly exposed in the camera would be preferable.
I would hope this site could have a really attractive lead photo both in terms of both subject matter, composition, focus and exposure. I like the current subject matter a lot, but obviously not the exposure. YMMV.
Robin has a new camera and may be interested in exploring more about photography. What I'm really getting at is that, perhaps, he might take one of his canoes and packs to one of the lakes or rivers near his home someday and experiment with different compositions, camera settings and light conditions for a couple of hours while he canoes or fishes -- or simply as a photographic venture. It may be fun for him, and it may produce some interesting and technically better photos, which perhaps can even be rotated on the front page here.
I've probably overexposed this subject and am done, but I hope my suggestion taken for what it is meant to be: a small thought intended to help improve the site's popularity.